


Alliance

by hinotoriii



Series: Ghosts of Yesterday [3]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-26
Updated: 2018-04-26
Packaged: 2019-04-28 07:45:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,463
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14444625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hinotoriii/pseuds/hinotoriii
Summary: Sometimes, everything is not quite as it seems.Can an enemy truly be an ally?





	Alliance

**Author's Note:**

> Wasn't too sure if a part three would ever arrive for this series, and yet here we are. 
> 
> Please excuse any rusty-ness; this _has_ been proofread and checked over, but my writing mojo disappeared for a few months and has only recently returned. But it may just be me.

“I knew you couldn't do it.”

Reaper isn't all that surprised when he finds Sombra's managed to make a home for herself in the safe house. He's grown used to the way she sometimes follows after him like a shadow, following the trail of whatever has managed to spark her intrigue.

It isn't difficult to imagine what's awoken her curiosity this time.

“Unable to kill the Soldier whose been a thorn in Talons' side for months now,” she continues, letting out a put upon sigh as she raises her hand before her, bringing to life one of her purple holoscreens. Sombra begins to idly flick through a number of files and pages which she's pulled up. “Do you think he likes being called Soldier: 76 by everyone, or would he prefer to go back to being known as Jack Morrison?”

Reaper remains silent.

“I've known for a while you know? After the third excuse you'd give as to how Soldier got away from you, I grew curious.” Sombra pauses, and Reaper can _feel_ the way she looks directly at him. “Gabriel Reyes would never be able to kill his own husband.”

“Don't,” Reaper warns, finally speaking. He turns his head to the side slightly, watching Sombra from beneath his mask. “I'm not that man anymore. Gabriel Reyes died years ago.”

“Jack Morrison supposedly died years ago too, but it turns out that was a lie.”

Sombra sends him an annoyed glare, one which – although she can't see it – Reaper challenges. She crosses her arms, letting the silence between them grow. The air surrounding them grows thick with tension, enough so that it could be cut with a knife.

“For god's sake Gabe -”

“Did you hack the cameras like I told you to?”

Sombra stops talking, her glare only growing more intense. Reaper waits for her answer, even as she starts to laugh to herself.

“Yeah. Yeah, I hacked them. I also went through the footage that was there, altering it. They'll know you shot him, but as far as for the rest, it'll just look as if he escaped.”

“Good.”

Knowing that Sombra had covered things up caused a wave of relief to rush over Reaper. There was already the guarantee that the Talon council would want to be informd on his apparent failure in eradicating the Soldier: 76 threat, and Akande was likely going to ask what had happened during his latest encounter. Reaper couldn't risk the repercussions if either were to learn the truth, especially not now. Not to mention that none of them were aware of who the Soldier truly was …

“You think that, maybe next time you decide to let your sentimentality win out, you could give me a heads up beforehand? We _are_ supposed to be working alongside one another after all.”

“Everything worked out, didn't it?”

Reaper moves, heading towards the other side of the room where an old computer sits. It doesn't work, likely hasn't for years, but he uses the desk it sits upon to rest his hands against. He's sure he hears Sombra mumble something that sounds like ‘ _impossible man’_ under her breath before returning to look at the files sitting open upon her holoscreen.

A long stretch of silence passes, and Reaper makes use of the opportunity to attempt to pull some of his thoughts together. Everything still feels like it's mixing itself up in his mind into one big, complicated blur, so much so it's making his head ache something fierce.

He hates how it feels as if he's missing something vital.

“How is he, anyway?”

The question – spoken in a quiet, hesitant way that is unlike Sombra - surprises Reaper. He glances towards her, noticing how she remains focused on whatever she's working on, but that her shoulders have grown tense.

“He's resting,” Reaper answers, looking away. He hears Sombra let out a hum.

“And his leg?”

“I did what I could. But it'll still need proper medical attention.”

“And Moira's out of the question,” Sombra says, the words a statement rather than a question.

Reaper scoffs. “Obviously.”

“Fair enough. Not sure where you plan to find someone else who understands super soldier DNA though.”

“I have someone in mind. I just need to find them.”  
  


* * *

  
“ _You_ promised _me that no one would know Blackwatch was there. And yet -” Jack gestures a gloved hand to the numerous newspapers that are still laid out over the desk. “- now the whole world knows you exist.”_

“ _Oh come on Jack,” Gabriel says, pointing a finger against one of the many pictures showing the aftermath of what had happened in Venice. “You and I both know Antonio was too powerful and too dangerous to be left alive. Maybe it wasn’t ideal, but I still stand by my decision.”_

_Jack's hands slam as they come down upon the desk, the sound ringing loudly between the two of them in the interrogation room. He leans down, staring furiously at Gabriel sitting before him._

“ _It wasn't your decision to make._ Your job _was to bring him back in one piece so we could question him. That’s what I thought you were going to do. Hell Gabriel, you even_ said _that was going to be the plan yourself!”_

“ _And when it came to it, I realised he would have been too slimy a motherfucker to get any answers from. It wouldn't have been worth the effort to bring him back for questioning. The best thing we could have done was to put a bullet in his head.”_

“ _Oh really? You really think_ this _-” Jack points to another newspaper cutting “ - was for the best? Because any alternative would have been better than the clusterfuck you've left us all in!”_

“ _You don't get it, do you?” Gabriel says, his own voice rising in agitation. “If it had been you in that room instead of me, I guarantee you would have done the same thing. All it took was_ one _look Jack, just one. Antonio knew he'd walk away from anything we threw at him, and he was smug about it. After everything he's done, all the people that have suffered because of him, all of the people that have died because of Talon? There was no way in hell I was going to let him live.”_

_Jack shakes his head, speechless. He lifts his hands away from the desk, rubbing one over his mouth briefly in disbelief. He turns his head away from his husband, finding it incredibly difficult to look at him right now. His eyes close briefly as he lets in a deep breath, and afterwards Jack forces his eyes to meet Gabriel's own again, noticing how they're still burning with the iron strong resolve Gabriel feels in regards to his actions._

_As he speaks this time, Jack tries his best to reign in his frustrated anger._

“ _Your actions have caused a major investigation, not just into Blackwatch operations but also into Overwatch itself. The UN is hot on my case – they expect me to have an answer for what you chose to do. Even Ana’s getting questioned at every turn by them. This isn't like the times before Gabriel. This isn't something I can cover up or bury for you. Just how on earth do you expect me to find a way to resolve this?”_

“ _Maybe you don't Jack,” answers Gabriel. “And maybe that's the price for what I did. I'll take it. But I don't regret anything. Antonio deserved what he had coming. I did the_ right _thing.”_  

_Jack rubs a hand against his forehead, sighing heavily. He knows there's no way him and Gabriel are ever going to see things eye to eye regarding Antonio's assassination. The crazy part is that Gabriel’s right: Jack probably would have done the same thing. He can even understand Gabriel’s reasons. It’s the exposure of it all that’s the problem._

_It’s strange, but the more Jack thinks about it, the more he considers how he may have turned a blind eye on Gabriel and his team walking headfirst into a trap. From what they’d all explained Antonio had been waiting for their appearance, and in Jack’s opinion the amount of soldiers that had been described to have tried to stop their escape seemed far too many for simple guard protection. Even Gérard had expressed the same thought to them all earlier, which only further leads Jack down the path of one conclusion._

_Talon knew Blackwatch were coming._

_It’s a thought which scares Jack, which makes him feel as if the bottom of his stomach has fallen from a sudden height. Because if Talon_ did _know of Gabriel’s plan to retrieve Antonio, how on earth did they find out? How far deep into the rabbit hole has Overwatch been thrown into, and was the exposure of Blackwatch something Talon had planned?_

 _And there’s another thing._  

_Jack’s fear doesn’t only stem from his own theorising. Nor is it from the concern of what the future of either Overwatch or Blackwatch is going to look like now they’re under the scrutiny of the world. No, Jack is also fearful for Gabriel._

_He knows he’s not the only person that is. Ana had shared a worried look his way after she’d been present to hear Gabriel’s debriefing of what had happened on the mission. There’s also McCree, who amidst his own anger had seemed both uneasy and confused in relation to Gabriel’s behaviour._

_Jack has a feeling there’s more going on in front of him than just a mission gone bad._

“ _What's going on Gabriel?” He asks, hand dropping back down to his side. His forehead is creased with lines, the act of frowning something Jack feels he's been doing more and more lately. He catches the way Gabriel begins to roll his eyes. “Don't do that. I'm not the only one that's noticed you've not been yourself lately.”_

 _Gabriel scoffs, crossing his arms over his chest. Jack knows him well enough by now to know that it's a defence mechanism._  

_He steps closer to the desk again, searching through the various newspaper headlines littered across it. It doesn't take long for Jack to find what he's looking for: a photograph of Moira O’Deorain on location in Venice. He places the image in front of Gabriel._

“ _I know you took on O'Deorain as a Blackwatch agent, even after I said I deemed her research too dangerous and controversial for Overwatch to fund any longer,” Jack pauses, watching as a glare starts to creep its way into Gabriel's expression. “Your condition’s getting worse, isn't it?”_

 _“No,” Gabriel says, pushing himself up and out of the seat he’s been sitting in, shaking his head as he begins to walk away from the desk entirely. “We are_ definitely _not having this discussion right now.”_  

_“Gabriel -” Jack starts, before Gabriel quickly shuts his words down._

_“I said_ no _, Jack.”_

_He leans his hands on the desk. He doesn’t meet Jack’s eyes, not noticing the concern that only continues to grow within them. Jack watches him breathe out an almost shuddering sigh, noticing how Gabriel’s shoulders slump. It’s as if all the fight leaves him in that one long, stretch of breath._

_“Just leave it be.”_  
  


* * *

  
It takes Jack a moment to remember where he is when he wakes. 

He'd taken his mask off earlier, leaving it on the ground at the side of the small bed he's lying on. Without its aid his vision is nothing much than just a blur, not that there's really much to look at anyway. Directly above him is only the pale, dirty colouring of a ceiling that is unfamiliar to him.

With a groan he raises a hand to rub against his eyes, the dream he’d woken from still fresh within his mind. It wasn’t so much a dream as it had been a memory, one which Jack couldn’t forget even if he wanted to. He remembers that day, that conversation.

In his mind he likes to refer to it as the day the dominos slowly began to topple and fall. It was the day the conflicts started to rise. It was the birthing ground of many arguments which would dig deep enough to drive wedges between even the strongest of bonds.

It was the turning point of when Jack and Gabriel started keeping secrets from one another, despite them both being constantly on edge with the very real truth there were already so many secrets buried within the veins of their organisation. 

Jack’s not sure why his dreams have decided to supply him with the memory now. Perhaps it is a responding echo to the strange reality he’s currently living.

He breathes out a heavy sigh, hand still pressed against his face as he closes his eyes …

_“You often leave the people you care about to die?”_

The words seep into his thoughts unbidden, making his chest ache. They had been spoken with such bitterness, such resentment …

… if only Reaper knew the truth.

Jack had never left him behind. Even when they were at their worst, Jack cared. He couldn’t _stop_ caring. Even as they yelled themselves hoarse before the building fell down around them, even as the flames grew and grew around the ruined remains of the base. Even as Jack pushed himself up, ignoring the searing pain, the heat, the blood, his first thought had been of Gabriel. How he had to find him, had to know he was safe, had to know he was still alive …

… Jack shakes his head, trying to pull out of _that_ memory. He can’t handle all these reminders of the past, and Zurich … Zurich is too much. Zurich will always be too much.

God, his mind feels jumbled, stretched tightly at the edges and spread with tension, as unreliably dangerous as a minefield. It’s as if every memory was rigged to trigger, to remind him how horribly he’s failed in every way that’s mattered. Jack just wishes desperately that he could go back, that he could fix it all, stop it getting as bad as it did -

When he opens his eyes again, the blur of the ceiling is gone. Instead, all he can see is an equally if not more messy blur of black and white. Jack can faintly make out the shape of the mask they would make, or maybe that’s only because the mask he pictures is the very one that has haunted him for years. He blinks, and Jack’s certain the blur tilts to the right slightly, as if watching him.

“What happened to your face?" 

The words sound … curious, which is strange. Reaper has only seemed evasive or angry before now, so for his voice to take on another quality to it is new. They’re enough to catch Jack off guard - although the tiredness which feels like it’s sinking into his very bones might also be a cause - and he answers only with the truth.

“Zurich.”

It’s explanation enough.

Jack begins to try and sit up, hissing through his teeth at the pain felt from his leg. Reaper steps away from the bed, no longer standing over him. Yet Jack can still feel how he’s being watched. A silence stretches between them as Jack attempts to settle, and it’s not until he does that Reaper decides to speak again.

“You’re blind, aren’t you?”

Jack ignores him, instead reaching for where he’d left his mask earlier. Reaper takes the lack of response for an answer.

“Guess that explains the mask.”

Suddenly, Jack feels something land near his good side. By the time he’s got the visor fixed back on his face, he sees that it is a small bag filled with food.

“I can remember how SEP affected how much you need to eat,” Reaper continues, beginning to slowly make his way towards the more shadowed area of the room. “After you’re done you can tell me where Amari is.”

“So you can shoot her too?” Jack scoffs, letting the bag of food sit untouched for now. He watches Reaper turn his head towards him, the bone white mask he wears stark against the darkness. But it isn’t Reaper who replies.

“He’s not going to shoot anyone.”

Both Jack and Reaper snap their attention towards the open door, watching as Sombra walks through it with an air of confidence about her. Jack gives the woman an odd look - somewhat in disbelief of what it is he’s seeing - while Reaper lets a sound alike that of a growl pass his lips.

“Sombra. I told you to wait in the other room.”

“And when have I ever done what you tell me to?” Sombra replies, smiling. Jack grunts, the sound prompting her to look his way. She raises an eyebrow at him, her smile widening into a grin.  

“So you’re Sombra,” he says.

“And you’re Overwatch’s old Strike-Commander. I hope my intel has been helpful to you.”

Out of the corner of his eye Jack notices how Reaper’s focus snaps to her. For a second he can imagine the surprise that’s likely struck him across his face, remembering how rare it had been to surprise Gabriel Reyes. He always did like to have a plan for every possibility, and hated when something unravelled that he hadn’t anticipated.

“It brought me to where I needed to be, didn’t it?”

Reaper remains silent.

Jack knows he’s suddenly aware of the truth.

Jack had never been searching for any sort of object at the base. He knew choosing to go there would likely be a suicide mission - he and Ana had argued over it, Ana not so quick to trust the information provided to them by a hacker who referred to themselves as _shadow_  - but after both Sombra’s help and the unexpected meeting he’d had with Reaper at Gérard’s grave, Jack knew it would be his best shot at what he hoped to achieve.

“You’ve been looking for me.”

Reaper briefly glances at Jack, then settles his gaze back on Sombra, pointing an accusing finger at her.

“And you’ve been helping him.”

Sombra shrugs, stepping further into the room.

“What can I say? I like to bring people together.” She pulls out a chair, helping herself to the seat. “I noticed your work in Dorado. At first I wondered what Los Muertos had done to offend you so much, but then I was just more concerned about the obvious trail of bodies you left behind. Talon was quite interested in that too.”

“I’m sure they were,” Jack says dismissively.

“You want to be careful with that sort of thing,” Sombra continues. “The undercover thing doesn’t work too well if your enemy knows your every movement. I mean, not all of us can be like Gabe here and disappear like a ghost.”

“Whatever it is you’re planning,” Reaper begins. “Stop. You know I don’t like you _meddling_.”

“Aww, don’t be that way. I just figure that a face from the past could be a powerful ally, and when I learnt about your past history together …” Sombra’s grin drops, her forehead creasing slightly. “I knew this meeting would never be easy with you two, but I didn’t expect you to nearly shoot his leg off.”

Jack scoffs, shaking his head.

“Hard to be allies when you’re fighting for the opposite team.”

“Oh, but that’s the true beauty of the situation.”

“ _Sombra,_ ” Reaper growls, the intended warning clear for anyone to notice.  

“Oh _come on_ , Gabe. Quit being so stubborn for once. Who’s Jack going to talk to, Amari? She’s as much a potential ally to us as he is. You know just as well as I do that he hasn’t bothered to answer the recall Overwatch has sent out, so it’s not as if he’s going to tell anyone there.”

“If you think I’m about to join Talon, you’re going to be very disappointed,” says Jack.

“Do you really think I’d have left you the trail I did if I was going to just ask something I knew you’d say no to?” Sombra asks, giving Jack a quizzical look.

Jack tries not to make his growing confusion obvious to either her or Reaper, but if the way Sombra lets out a small laugh is any indication, he’s likely failed. She continues.

“I thought you’d know all too well that it’s not all that difficult to infiltrate an organisation that believes itself to be near untouchable. Especially one that’s grown complacent in its own comfort. It only needs a few moles on the inside to help bring the whole thing tumbling down.”

Flashes of the dream he’d woken from pass quickly through Jack’s mind at the words. The reminder of how Venice had been the first strike in the fall of both Overwatch and Blackwatch. Yes, he knows all too well what Sombra means.

But this time, Jack knew it couldn’t be about crumbling an organisation that was already damaged.

He huffs out a single laugh, disbelief growing as he understands what Sombra is trying to say. Jack knows this is a conversation Reaper would never have begun himself, that it is one Sombra has initiated of her own accord. He can feel from the tension radiating off of him he would rather have taken such a secret to his grave.

Just as Gabriel would have taken the secret of Blackwatch to the grave, had it never been forcibly exposed.

“Am I supposed to believe -” Jack begins to say “- that the two of you are actually working _against_ Talon?”

“Would you even be alive right now if we _were_ working for them?” Sombra asks. “We both have our reasons as to why we’re currently tied into Talon, but it doesn’t mean that we _are_ Talon. We have to be careful how we operate, so as not to raise too much suspicion.”

Jack watches her shoot a quick glare at Reaper. He’s suddenly reminded of the way Reaper had been growling at her through a headset earlier, and feels a stab of sympathy towards her. Gabriel never had been brilliant at following orders by the book, so much so Jack had always joked to those who knew of their relationship how it was his husband that caused his hair to turn grey.

“Are you finished?” Reaper asks, crossing his arms. Sombra shakes her head in answer.

“What you did was stupid Gabe. You’re just lucky I was able to fix things.”

“If my actions are stupid, then what you’re doing right now is moronic.”

“At least I’m _trying_ to help us all out, rather than brooding in the shadows. Anyway,” Sombra moves on to continue her conversation with Jack. “Gabe and I have to be careful not to raise suspicion, but _you_ don’t. Soldier: 76 is already a thorn in Talon’s side, and as far as they know he got away during his last fight with the Reaper.”

“So what?” Jack replies, sounding frustrated. “What are you asking, Sombra? For me to sneak around Talon bases, taking them out one at a time? You know as soon as one goes down three more appear.”

“That’s why we aim for some of the hydras heads instead. Here.”

It’s then Jack realises Sombra has been holding something while she’s been speaking, and she throws it his way. He catches it, and when he turns it over in his hand he sees that it is a flash drive.

“Consider that a peace offering. If either you or Amari search the data on it, you’ll find the names of some of Talon’s hidden connections. They’re not high profile enough to begin raising questions that could get back to us, but if they fall it would cause enough damage to make some impact.”

“And how do I even know I can trust this won’t blow up in my face?”

Sombra leans back in her chair, giving a small shrug.

“You don’t. It’s up to you to decide to take the leap or not. I mean, what do you _really_ have to loose at this stage?”

She’s right, although Jack won’t say it. He needs to think, needs to wonder what Sombra would gain from trapping him. She’s led him this far, provided him with the intel he needed to get closer to Reaper - but was that really because she was simply looking for other allies herself?

His attention darts from Sombra, down to the flash drive in his hand, before finally landing on Reaper himself. He’s been quieter than Jack would have expected, and the fact Reaper has allowed Sombra to propose this despite his obvious disagreement confuses him. He knows he could have stopped her words at any moment, that it likely wouldn’t have taken much for her to leave the topic alone. So why hadn’t he?

“And where do you stand in all this?” He asks, ignoring how a hint of aggression manages to leak its way into his words.

“I don’t control Sombra. Least of all when she has her own agenda,” he looks her way, and Jack can imagine the glare he’s giving her beneath his mask. “Do whatever you want. Just make sure to keep out of my way.”

An air of hostility remains around Reaper. His words carry a dismissive weight to them, but it doesn’t seem as heavy to Jack. Not like it had been before. He’s still not quite  _Gabriel_ \- or at least the Gabriel he had once mourned for - but for a moment Jack wonders if maybe the man beneath the nightmare isn’t as gone as he believed.

Maybe he _can_ still save what’s left of him. 

Maybe there _is_ something that can still be redeemed.

He’s suddenly pulled out of his thoughts by a sharp spike of pain in his leg. He’d moved, and as he’d shifted his position slightly, managed to aggravate the wound. Jack hisses, holding still as he waits for the pain to subside.

“You going to tell us where Amari is now so she can help you?” asks Reaper. “Given how you’re still a stubborn asshole, Angela’s likely out of the picture. Doesn’t leave you with many other choices.”

“You don’t even have to tell us _exactly_ where she’s located,” Sombra adds, and Jack thinks he hears an edge of concern in her words. “If you still don’t trust us, you could just give us a location where she can meet you.”

Jack grits his teeth. He knows that the sooner Ana can look at his leg, the better she can heal it. And although he’s still not overly convinced on whether or not he can believe what he’s just been told or trust either Sombra or Reaper, Jack’s aware he currently has few options open to him right now.

And so he comes, albeit reluctantly, to a decision.

“Fine.”


End file.
